Lauren Adams
by Cady Parker
Summary: Grissom meets Lauren Adams, an extreme abuse victim. When she is hurt, Grissom feels that he's the one to help her. Rated M for language and violence chapters 4 and up. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Note: This is my first fanfic of any kind, so it would be very helpful to receive any comments. Also, this is just a general story; it's not set after a specific episode. **

**Pairings: A bit of Grissom/Sara romance: implied shared living quarters**

**Rating: M for strong language and violence**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own anything besides any unfamiliar characters (Daniel and Lauren Adams). -sniffles-**

**Chapter 1**

"Ok, guys, assignments," Gil Grissom announced in the doorway of the break room. The CSIs on the night shift all looked up, waiting for their slip of paper that told them what they were going to do. "Warrick and Sara, 419 in Henderson. Looks like the teenage son went berserk and killed his family: mom, dad, and three sisters." He handed the paper to Warrick and the two left, already thinking of reasons that he might have done it.

"He was sniffing something that night, I'm telling you," Sara's voice came echoing down the hall. "There's no other reason." Warrick laughed.

Grissom turned back around and shuffled through the papers. "Nick, you got a 10-45C. A hospital patient died in police custody. You're supposed to go interview the involved officers and see why the patient was there in the first place."

"Thank you, very much, Grissom, for always giving me the _exhilarating _cases," Nick said with a mock-excited face.

"Well, just be thankful you got any case at all," Grissom called to Nick's retreating back. He turned to the last remaining CSI: Catherine Willows.

"Let me guess. I get to go take a report from some drunken hobo that crawled into an open house window," Catherine said with her arms crossed.

"Actually, no," Grissom replied with a raised eyebrow. "A fifteen-year-old daughter called in saying she found her mother dead on the stairs. The father came home about five minutes after she called. The daughter said that the dad might have had something to do with it."

"Wow. Score."

"Yeah. At the crime scene it's the regular routine. Brass is taking the girl and the dad in and he'll wait for us to question them." Grissom handed Catherine the paper with the details and glanced up at the clock. "Five minutes sound ok?"

"Sure. Meet me outside my car." With that Catherine waved the paper and walked out the door, humming "Mr. Blue Sky."

Grissom laughed and walked out of the break room and into his office, where countless numbers of specimens in glass jars surrounded him. He walked over to grab his kit and, when he made sure that it was fully stocked, walked back out.

Catherine drove the pair to the crime scene, a two-story house with a large circular driveway. "We want to divide and conquer?" Catherine asked, stepping out of her parked Tahoe.

"Sure, but let's do the stairs first. After that you take first, I take second?" Grissom asked, shutting his door.

"All right, boss." The two made their way up the drive-way, nodding at the police officers who lifted the "Do Not Cross" police tape. A few other CSI interns puttered around the door-way of the house, swabbing here, pictures there. Catherine stifled a laugh when she saw a confused intern just standing, doing nothing. She remembered when she was that low, but she was never that confused.

The two started with the stairs, taking pictures and getting swabs. David, the ever-scared coroner, came in and removed the body so that Grissom could get up the stairs. The second floor was very neat and well-organized. Pictures of the family hung over the walls and Grissom stopped to look at them. One picture had a mom, dad, and two girls. The bigger girl had shiny brown hair and bright blue eyes, and she was smiling like nothing could ever be wrong. But the smaller girl, beautiful with strawberry blonde hair –a bit redder than Catherine's- and soft green eyes, was not giving such a smile. The parents were both smiling like the first girl. Grissom wondered what was wrong.

Continuing down the hallway, Gil stopped when there were two rooms on the left and one on the right. He peeped into one on the left and saw that it had another picture of the red-headed girl in it, so he walked in. The walls were painted a dark purple and on it were hung decorations of all sorts, the most populous being white picture frames. He took his time looking at each photo: some had the girl smiling, some didn't.

_Why is this bothering me so much?_ Grissom asked himself. _There's nothing special about her right now. I don't even know if she's the daughter that called it in._

Ignoring his pestering thoughts, Gil walked over to the very organized desk and looked around, opening drawers and flipping through notebooks and textbooks, taking pictures along the way. Opening the last drawer Grissom found a notebook that was covered, front and back, with a collage of different things. The theme seemed to be summer, or something like it. Sensing something special about this book, he opened it up and read an entry in the middle of it.

_December 3, 2007_

_Dear Diary,_ it read in a normal teenage girl's writing.

_Today, when I got home from school, mom was sitting in the corner of the living room, on the couch, crying and holding an ice-pack to her face. I thought about going over to her but then dad came out of the kitchen, seeming a bit drunk. I knew that if I didn't get out of the house he would hit me too so I dropped my backpack and tried to run out. He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back in –I can't even write it without crying- and pulled me close to him. I could smell whiskey and I turned my head away, but not before he slapped me. I cried and tried to pull away from him, but he slapped me again and again, and then, with a final punch, let me go. Instead of going outside, where I knew someone would call the police when they saw my face, I ran up to my room, locked the door, and crawled onto the bed and cried. Why does it have to be _my _family that has this going on? I'm tired of it! It seems like it's every day now that I get hit, and I never do anything wrong. Do I? I miss Alyssa. I know dad had something to do with her moving out so early –she was only 17!- but I don't know what. I don't even know if she's _alive _anymore. I don't think I'm leaving my room tonight. _

Grissom sighed and flipped through the rest of the diary, which was filled with similar entries. He now understood why she –what was her name?- wasn't smiling in the picture while Alyssa was. At least, he thought the reason Alyssa was smiling because she was going to be leaving the house. He took the book and put it in an evidence bag and continued on to the other bedrooms, wondering why so many children are being abused these days.

--

**Ok, so please review. If I get enough comments I will post the second chapter. Please, if you didn't like it tell me why; same if you did like it. If you find any mistakes, they are all mine.**


	2. Chapter 2

**OK, so here is chapter 2. Thanks for reviews...remember, if I get enough, or just one that I find positive enough, I will update the story. Please, R&R!**

**Chapter 2**

When Grissom walked back down the stairs with a look of discontent on his face, Catherine wondered what was wrong. Sensing her thoughts, Gil held up the book and again sighed.

"Abuse. The smaller girl in the family pictures? And the mom? Both abused." He looked around and thought about the crime scene, how much longer it would take to process it, etc. He really didn't have the energy to stay now -why exactly not? What was the big deal?- but it was his job to stay and, well, do his job.

"We're done here, Gil. Let's go back to the lab and then we can talk to the girl and her dad," Catherine said with comfort. Grissom nodded and walked out to Catherine's waiting car, again wondering why this particular case was hitting him so hard. He shook his head to clear it of those thoughts. Once on the road back to the lab, Catherine spoke up, keeping her eyes on the road.

"You ok?"

"Yeah." He didn't want to say anything else because then it would just cause problems. He was Gil Grissom, supervisor, and he wasn't allowed to have thoughts like these. They were all of a sudden back at the lab so the pair got out, opening the trunk and taking out their kits and the evidence they collected. The hair and DNA they gave to the lab techs and made their way to the interviewing room where Brass had the dad and daughter.

Grissom stood outside the glass walls, watching the three talk. _She looks so scared,_ Grissom thought sadly. Indeed, the girl had watering eyes, which she now kept to the table, not looking up at anyone. On and above her left eye was a bruise, and Grissom stared at the father, the one who gave it to her. Brass turned around, for he had had his back to Grissom, and motioned for Gil and Catherine to come in. Once inside, they were all formally introduced.

"Gil, Catherine, this is Daniel Adams and his daughter Lauren," Brass introduced, motioning to each one in turn. "Lauren, Daniel, Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows."

_Her name's Lauren,_ Gil thought sarcastically. _That's such a happy name_.

"Nice to meet you, Lauren, Daniel," Grissom said unexpectedly. He generally never greets his suspects or victims like this but today just seemed like the right time to do so. When he had said Lauren, she had looked up and taken Grissom's face in, and he tried to read her expression. He concluded that she was trying to figure out whether he was serious or not. Whether he would hurt her or not.

"All right. We have names down. Why exactly are _we _being called in here?" Daniel asked angrily. Lauren put her eyes back down and said nothing.

"Protocol, Mr. Adams," Catherine replied. "You wouldn't mind telling us what happened, would you, Lauren?"

Grissom's heart jumped a bit, for now he would hear what Lauren had to say, whether she would mention her dad or not. Lauren looked up again and stared at Catherine with almost pleading eyes. She was so scared of what her father might do if she said anything.

"Please, Lauren, tell us what happened," Gil said softly.

She nodded slightly, swallowed, and began.

--

**Remember, review! Did you like it? If you did, why? Same process goes for disliking the story. Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

Note: This is my first fanfic of any kind, so it would be very helpful to receive any comments

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update the story. I've only gotten 2 reviews so it discourages me a bit…please, if you read, review! I'll update faster and write some more. Enjoy chapter 3!**

**Chapter 3**

"I came home from school around 3:20 –I got a ride from my friend- and so I walked inside the house and it was really quiet," Lauren said softly. Grissom was surprised when he heard her voice. It was much smoother than he thought it would be. "Normally, when I get home, my mom is playing music and cleaning the house or something."

"But there was nothing going on this time?" Brass asked.

"No," Lauren replied, shaking her head. "I just figured that she had gone out or something, which she usually doesn't do because she might ge--" Here she was cut off by a look from her dad. Grissom leaned forward in case Daniel would try and do something to his daughter, but all Daniel did was look at her.

"She might what?" Catherine asked. _The poor girl, _she thought sadly.

"Nothing."

"Are you sure? You can say anything you want to. No one's going to hurt you for it," Brass assured in his most comforting tone, which really was just less raspy than his normal voice.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Lauren said softly. That statement was immediately followed by a threatening glare from Daniel.

"Continue, Lauren," Grissom encouraged.

"Well, I assumed that she had gone out, so I went into the living room and turned on the T.V. and flipped through the channels. Nothing was on so I turned it off and took my book out of my backpack and lay down on the couch to read it. After about five minutes of reading I noticed that it smelled a little bit like metal, but I didn't know what it was."

At this point Grissom and Catherine exchanged knowing looks. Lauren glanced at them with a mix of a puzzled and upset expression, but soon continued. "I went into the kitchen to get something to eat, grabbed a granola bar, and went over to the stairs to go up to my room." Here Lauren stopped. She could feel a ball worm her way into her throat and she swallowed. It didn't work. Tears spilled out and she hastily wiped them away, trying not to let her father see them. He doesn't like it when people cry.

"It's ok, Lauren, it's ok," Catherine said calmly. She had a daughter, so she was very experienced at consoling crying girls.

Lauren shook her head and looked up, placing her hands on the table. "But it's not! It's not," she cried out. At this time, she desperately wanted a dad to calm her, a mom to hold her, an older sister to talk to. But because of her father, she didn't have any of those things.

"Lauren," Daniel said with warning. All Lauren could do was put her head in her hands and continue to cry. She shook her head back and forth and kept muttering things no one could make out. "Lauren, stop crying."

"Daniel, she's clearly in shock. She _should _be crying," Catherine said with an edge to her voice. What was his problem?

"Please, Miss," Daniel said with anger and a smirk. "Don't tell me how I should be treating my own daughter."

"It's not like you've been treating her as a father _should _treat a daughter," Grissom interjected. At times like these, he was never good at holding in his temper.

"Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?" Daniel retorted, starting to stand up.

"Hey! Guys, calm down," Brass yelled. He looked over at Lauren, who was still crying, but not as hard as before. "Lauren, are you all right?"

She looked up with a tear-streaked face, and Grissom noted how green her eyes were now. She was no doubt beautiful, even when she was crying. Right now her red hair was in curls around her shoulders, bangs curved over her right eye. Lauren had on typical fifteen-year-old clothes, jeans from some department store and a tee-shirt that said Abercrombie. "I don't know."

Catherine walked over and put her arm around Lauren, and was not surprised to find Lauren tense up. "I'm not going to hurt you. Do you want to go out for a little bit?"

"Don't touch her," Daniel said slowly.


	4. Chapter 4

Note: This is my first fanfic of any kind, so it would be very helpful to receive any comments

**Ok, so there's swearing coming up, and violence. I'm sure you can read through it…just be warned. Please review! It means so much! **

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 4**

Catherine backed up, not wanting to cause harm to herself or Lauren. "Do you want to?"

Lauren was tired of all these questions. She was just tired in general. "No." She knew that if she said anything else at all, she would get hit. Lauren was honestly surprised that she hadn't been hit already.

"Please, tell us what happened next," Brass said carefully, looking at Daniel out of the corner of his eye.

Lauren sighed and talked through remaining tears. "I found her lying on the stairs, and there was blood everywhere. I don't know how I didn't see her when I walked in." A fresh burst of tears came flowing out. "As soon as I saw her I ran to the phone and called 9-1-1."

"That was the right thing to do," Grissom said softly. This whole time he had just been standing, watching her. Lauren looked up. She liked Gil, and she didn't even know him. She nodded.

"Then dad came home. He saw her and walked into the kitchen and grabbed a soda," she said with hesitation, only looking at Grissom. Daniel looked at her.

"Shut the fuck up, Lauren, if you know what's good for you," he said. She closed her eyes and cried.

"Hey!" Brass again yelled.

"Jim, get her away from him," Grissom said in low tones. Brass looked up at Gil and contemplated what he said. He then dismissed the idea. He knew Daniel would get mad if Brass did that.

"He just walked right past her. I knew he did it. He had to of. He hated her and was always hitting her."

"Lauren, shut the fuck up," Daniel ordered.

"He sat down on the couch and turned on the T.V. and just watched it. I asked him if he did it and he just looked at the T.V." Lauren was now angrily sobbing. Now would be the time to get it all out. "I was crying and crying. I think he did that to my sister, too."

"Alyssa?" Grissom asked.

"Yes," she nodded in surprise. How did he know?

"Lauren," said Daniel.

She once again ignored him and continued on. "I went over to him and again asked him and he threw his soda down and hit me-" here she motioned to her bruise above her eye "-and then I tried to fight back. I knew he did it. He just kept on hitting me." She pulled up her shirt to reveal a tan, flat, stomach with dark purple, blue, black, green, and yellow bruises on it. "He did it all," Lauren sobbed, pulling her shirt back down.

"You fucking slut!" Daniel screamed, grabbing his daughter. Immediately Brass, Catherine and Grissom stood up. Officers outside the door came in to try and break it up, but they feared Daniel would hurt Lauren even more if they tried anything. "I can't believe I didn't damn kill you, too! I knew I should have, fucking shit of a 'daughter'!" He punched her, again and again, in the face and slapped her. The officers tried to break them up but Daniel was strong.

Lauren was screaming, and Catherine watched it while crying. Grissom couldn't get in between Daniel and the officers, so he had to just watch. He couldn't stand watching Lauren get hurt, though. Finally, one of the officers grabbed Daniel in just the right place to make him let go of Lauren. Grissom watched him throw his daughter down against the wall. He saw that she was covered in blood and was sobbing.

Grissom ran over to her and picked her up a bit, supporting her and comforting her, every now and then running his hands over her hair. He had never been good with comforting people at this age, but suddenly he found that he was doing a good job.

"Lauren! You're no fucking daughter of mine! Shit you're nothing of mine!" Daniel screamed as the officers pulled him out of the room.

"It's ok, Lauren, it's ok," Grissom said calmly. He felt his eyes water but didn't care. She was tense and Grissom knew that, from past experience with abuse victims, it was because they thought they were going to get hit. "It's Grissom. I'm not going to hit you." At this the muscles in her body relaxed a bit.

"It's all my fault," Lauren sobbed. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's not your fault. Don't ever say that." Grissom sat stroking her hair, supporting her. "Catherine, go get medics."

Catherine nodded and ran out of the room. Brass looked at Grissom.

"I'm sorry I didn't move them. I should have." With that he left the room to help Catherine find paramedics. The two sat there, now both crying.


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: Ok, here's the fifth chapter. I've been really busy with things (life) and so I haven't had time to update. But here I am, on a Sunday morning (when I really should be doing my history homework…), with nothing much to do. :D PLEASE review and enjoy!**

**Chapter 5**

Lauren woke up, scared and unaware of where she was. She felt a stabbing pain in her arm, then looked down and saw an I.V. above a purple cast that reached just below her elbow. She was in a hospital. Why? All of a sudden she remembered the interview. And she remembered Gil –Grissom? Just Grissom?- holding her after. What else was there? What else happened?

A nurse came in with a vial, and Lauren instantly tensed up again. She hated blood. She tried to say something but nothing really came out. What _had _happened that made her voice like it was? Lauren tried to communicate with the nurse by just looking at her, using her eyes for emotions.

"Honey, look away while I do this. It'd be easier on you."

Lauren gave up trying to speak with her eyes after that.

The nurse took blood for about five minutes and then, after she left, Lauren leaned back and closed her eyes, then realizing how much she really hurt. While her eyes were closed, she heard a footstep coming towards her bed and in her fog thought it was the nurse again.

"Lauren?" She opened her eyes and faced Grissom. She didn't know whether or smile or to cry so she left her face blank.

_Smooth move, Lauren._

"I'm so sorry I didn't stop what he did to you," Grissom quietly said. He put a vase of flowers on her bedside table and sat down in the chair. "I wanted to but I didn't know what exactly I could have done."

Lauren shook her head and tried the best that she could to talk. "Don't say that." Her voice was not as smooth as it normally was, but it honestly wasn't as bad as she thought it would have been. "It wasn't something anyone could have done anything about. Except me." She moved her head to face him and wondered why he was here. Surely he had a life? "If you don't mind me asking, why are you here?"

He smiled. "Because it's my job to make sure that you're ok," he said with a small laugh. Grissom was really here to make sure that she was ok, nothing more. For some reason, as he wondered at before, he had developed _something _with Lauren. Maybe it was because Sara, too, had an abusive childhood?

Grissom deeply loved Sara. And now he knew why Lauren was so important.

"Really? Just to see that I'm ok?" Lauren asked, trying to keep her eyes open. She hurt so bad, everywhere. "Why the flowers?" Lauren quickly realized how judgmental she was being and contributed it to the lack of love in her house.

"You like questions don't you," Grissom mused. Lauren shifted her glance to the doorway and Grissom followed her gaze. Catherine stood there, holding a card.

"Hi, Lauren," she said softly, entering the room. She handed the girl the card and specified what it was for. "The other CSIs on our shift heard about what happened –some of them actually saw what happened- and wanted to sign a card. Just a get-well sort of thing."

Lauren thanked Catherine quietly and opened the envelope. On the front there was a picture of a ripped teddy bear and a crying girl. Opening it up revealed the teddy bear with a Band-Aid over the tear and the laughing girl, hugging the bear tight. Giving a small laugh, Lauren again thanked Catherine and Grissom.

"Lauren, I'm so sorry about what happened to you," Catherine said in a tone similar to that of Grissom's.

"Don't be. There was nothing you could have done."

"How long has this been going on?" Grissom asked.

"I don't know," Lauren confessed, looking down at her cast. How did they know she liked purple? "I guess since I can remember. There was one time, when I was six or seven," Lauren recalled. "And dad wanted me to set the table, so he gave me four china plates to carry. I wasn't strong enough so I dropped them. He hit me then, hard, and I guess it's been going on ever since." She didn't realize it until after she was done that she was crying small, silent tears.

"Oh, Lauren," Catherine sighed.

"Who picked purple?" Lauren asked with a small smile, holding up her arm as much as she could without the I.V. coming out. Grissom raised a sheepish hand.

"I knew that your room was painted purple, so I thought you might like it."

"I do. Thanks."


	6. Chapter 6

**Note: Ok, here's another chapter. Thank you all who have "favorited" (is that even a word?) my story! Yes, yes, life has taken some hard turns lately so I haven't been able to update before this. And I warn you: this chapter is going to get kind of mushy and unrealistic. But that's FanFic at its best, my friends. **

**Chapter 6**

Lauren's hospital stay lasted for three weeks. Grissom tried to go in and see her whenever he could, but Ecklie, being Ecklie, piled paperwork on Gil like the world was about to end and all that paperwork would save it. In the meantime, Lauren kept herself busy talking to a neighboring patient, a boy her age who had been in a car accident. She thought he was cute, he thought she was cute, but since they were both in a physical condition that prohibited anything else but emotions, all they did was talk. During one of these sessions, Lauren's regular nurse –now known as Lily- came in.

"Lauren, based on your current progression in all areas, and based on the fact that your father is no longer in your way-" this she said in low tones "-Dr. Shaefer and I have decided that you will be released tomorrow." Lily leaned over to fix Lauren's pillows and placed a tray of food on her bed. Then she smiled and walked out the door, waving to Lauren and her friend Spencer along the way.

"That's cool," Spencer said with a forced smile.

"You don't look like you think it is," she replied with a raised eyebrow. _Does he really like me?_

"That's because you're leaving. Then this place is goin' to go back to the shit-hole it was before." At this he cringed, having moved his broken arm in a way that it shouldn't have moved.

"Aw, thanks," she laughed. Just then Lily came back and told Spencer that he would have to go back to his room for Dr. Grant to make sure everything was going the way it was supposed to. Spencer stood up shakily from his wheelchair and leaned over to Lauren, attempting to kiss her. All he managed to do was peck her on the lips, but that was fine with her. She laughed.

"'Bye, Lauren," he called as he wheeled himself out of her room. After he left Lauren smiled and leaned back into the pillows, thinking about Spencer –did he really just sort-of kiss her?- and being released.

The next morning, Lily and Dr. Shaefer both came in to say good-bye. Although the small "celebration" they had was exciting (they got her a card and a mini cake) Lauren couldn't help but wonder who would be taking her out of here. She had no family left, besides her father, who was now in jail. She was too scared to ask, however, so she just went along with everyone else.

As Lily wheeled Lauren to the lobby of the hospital, Lauren was startled to see none other than Gil Grissom sitting on a bench reading a magazine titled "Forensics: A New Age." She smiled but quickly hid that smile. How could she be so sure he was taking her anywhere? Her doubt quickly disappeared, however, when he stood up and walked over, smiling, to the two ladies.

"Lauren, you're looking so much better," he commented, still with a smile.

"I guess I feel better, too, thanks to Lily," she replied with a laugh. Lily looked down and smiled, giving her a small hug.

"I hope everything gets better," she said with a nod. "And I never want to see you back here again." They all laughed. Lily helped Lauren stand up, and, after a few tries, she could walk relatively normally. With Grissom supporting her, she walked out into the cold day. She hadn't realized how rainy it had been lately. It didn't bother her, however, for she dearly loved the rain. Lauren let Grissom guide her to his car and they got in their respective sides, Grissom starting up the car, Lauren in the passenger seat.

"Where am I going?" Lauren asked.

"For now, to the lab," he answered, giving her a look out of the corner of his eye. She was staring straight ahead.

_Please, don't make me go back there,_ Lauren thought with a pleading tone.

"Nothing's going to happen to you. I'll be with you the whole time. We just need to figure out who's going to take you in." With this Grissom reached his hand over to hers and squeezed it to let her know he was here.

And she squeezed back.


End file.
